F. Weber Date

[Farrell]

Hello List folks. I serviced an F. Weber 55-inch upright tonight. Serial # 19290. The only thing Pierce says is Germany, 1860 - no reference to serial numbers. Beautiful case.

This piano has a full plate, but an open pinblock. It has the rocker-style capstans. Nobody used those after the turn of the century, did they? Everything else is fairly normal, modern. Oh, except 85 keys. The owners bought it two years ago in Lithuania. The guy there said it was 50 years old. I say no-way. To me, full plate says post-1900 (or so), open pinblock suggests older - but consider Bechstein is still open. I guess it is the rocker capstans and the 85 notes that has me feeling like its gotta be 100 years old or so. Waddaya think?

Anyone have any specifics on the company? Seen others? Decent piano? This one seems like perhaps medium quality. This piano has been restrung and someone put a new bass bridge on it - nice job.

Had some real bad empty-trash-can sounds on the first few notes on the treble side of the tenor/treble break (three section scale). I suspect this may be related to the long bridge cut in two by the plate strut? Can that have that kind of effect? I didn't get to look at the back to see if there was the add-on support on the back where the bridge was cut out - there was fabric covering the back.

Thanks for any info on the 47 questions above.

Terry Farrell